IN THE LOOP: SIDEWALKS: 21ST WARD

Setting his sights high

Howard Brookins Jr. Saw The Law As A Way Into Politics, And Now The Sky's The Limit

September 10, 2006|By Rick Kogan

Eight-year-old Howard Brookins III comes running and laughing into his father's office in the 9600 block of South Halsted Street and his father, who is nearing the end of his first term as alderman of the 21st Ward, is reminded of the days when he used to run around his father's place of business, which happened to be a funeral home.

"It never bothered me," says the 42-year-old alderman, who lived with his parents and one older sister on the second floor of the funeral home. "It was just where we lived. I spent a lot of time with my father even before, when he walked his beat as a cop and I would go with him."

While at Mendel Catholic High School and Southern Illinois University, Brookins helped out at the mortuary. "I worked for my dad, so I know what it's like to work for low wages," he says, laughing. "I got my degree in mortuary science, but really wanted to be a lawyer." His law degree was earned from Northern Illinois University.

Brookins spent some time in the Cook County Public Defender's Office before becoming a state's attorney. "After a year, I couldn't take it anymore. I was working in Juvenile Court, dealing with cases of abuse and neglect. That was hard, but I was also frustrated at the cookie-cutter mentality for treatment. These people weren't being looked at as individuals, with distinct problems," he says.

Always interested in public office-his father was a state senator as well as a funeral director-Brookins saw the law as his avenue into politics. In 1999, he took the leap, running for 21st Ward alderman against Leonard DeVille, the pastor of Alpha Temple Missionary Baptist Church. DeVille had been appointed by Mayor Daley to complete the term of Jesse Evans, who had been sentenced to prison for his criminal role in Operation Silver Shovel.

"It was a nasty race," says Brookins. "I was going through a divorce and the race got into gutter politics. They were distributing fliers saying all sorts of ugly things, lies."

He lost that race, but in 2003-with DeVille calling Brookins an "ignorant ass," among other things-he won in a runoff.

"I knew this job was going to be difficult," he says. "But I didn't understand how difficult it is to get everybody on the same page about the priorities of the community."

He is a big believer in block clubs "because they help fight crime and give a strong sense of community." He was a vocal opponent of the ordinance that mandates a minimum wage at Wal-Mart and other "big box" stores. "It kills me to find myself driving to Evergreen Park to shop, knowing that the money I am spending is going to help some other community. When it was announced that Wal-Mart wanted to come into my ward I got two letters in protest, and one from someone who didn't even live here. People not from here have no clue to what the 21st Ward is and needs."

It is an area that includes portions of such neighborhoods as Gresham, West Chatham and Brainerd (to see a ward map, go to www.cityofchicago.org and click on the "Your Ward and Alderman" link).

Brookins, seen playing jump rope with some kids at the Medgar Evers School, is married to Ebonie Taylor. Together they have a baby son, Harihson. She works for Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Larry Rogers Jr. and the alderman still practices law, "but not much. My partner would tell you, 'He doesn't do jack.' "

He plans to run again next year. "I take no election for granted," he says. "How long will I be alderman? When I was a kid I looked at Edward Brooke [the Massachusetts attorney general who in 1966 became the first African-American to be elected by popular vote to the U.S. Senate], even though he was a Republican, and I said, 'Hey, that's what I want to do.'

"Now that Barack [Obama] is there, I guess I have to start thinking about governor or president or vice president."